Corporate welfare needs means testing

The subsidy
paid to Rio Tinto by Bill English has been shown up to be
corporate welfare at its worst, says Labour’s SOEs
spokesperson Clayton Cosgrove.

The multi-national
company, gifted $30 million of taxpayer money by National
last year, has announced a profit of $US3.7 billion.

“Bill English bent over backwards to stitch up a deal
with Rio Tinto over Tiwai Point. He ignored Treasury advice
and, to rub salt into the wound, he made the deal tax
free.

“Mr English claimed time and time again that
the subsidy was to save jobs, but bizarrely he never
actually bothered to ask for a jobs guarantee.

“He
made no attempt whatsoever to test the need for a subsidy
for a massively profitable company.

“Rio Tinto
must be laughing all the way to the bank. It can pack up and
leave Tiwai in 2016, minus any obligations and having
pocketed millions in taxpayer cash.

“If Bill
English and his mates are to continue handing out corporate
welfare – and you can bet they will - then they need to
make sure it meets both a ‘work test’ and a ‘means
test’,” Clayton Cosgrove
said.

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